I've had 2 Pearl Gourami for around 2 years, when I realised they were both Male I added a female a few months ago... They were all healthy altho the 2 males have always been finicky with food & would only eat live Mosquito Larvae or Blackworms & wouldn't accept flake foods...
A few months ago I noticed the 2 males started looking haggard - their fins looked fine just they looked like they were losing weight especially around the head area ( like it was sinking in or something ) other than that they looked fine... Last week the largest one stopped eating & started hanging out by himself, then it stopped eating... It eventually laid on the bottom on it's side coming up for air only & then the next day it died... Today I am noticing the other male has started doing the same thing...
It has the same funny look about it's head, I mean it looks like it has lost weight in it's head ( I don't know how else to describe it ) whereas the other one has a lovely full head...
I havn't seen anything like it...
Please Help :unsure:

I forgot to mention that neither of them have any wounds or sores or white spot...

Sorry to hear you lost a fishy. What changes have occurred with their tank? The new female was added to their tank? Maybe she brought something into the system? I assume the water quality, temperature, etc. all check out? If the water's fine, and new fish didn't bring anything into the system, then they could just be literally wasting due to problems associated with being older. At two years old, they're certainly not geriatric but could be experiencing aging problems. The seeming loss of weight in the head could just be an indication of general weight loss; I'm not sure on that. My two older paradise fish have similar problems with smaller heads and laying around more. I keep expecting them to die but they're hanging in there.

The 2nd one died this morning...

The other one is fine & very healthy looking...

I have since read that there are "wasting away" diseases even tho the fish are still eating... Mollies are susceptible & also apparently Gourami's... It came throo with our latest fish catalogue - I should have brought it home with me - it had advice on medicines but these were things I'd never heard of & also hadn't a hope in hell of getting them in time to save anyones life !!
I wished I had taken a photo but thought I more time...
I notice some of the tiny ones at work ( no relation to mine ) have the same look about them whereas the others have a round, full head...
I have also read something on the internet about Gourami Disease but not been able to find out anything really specific...
Our breeders told us about this thing like Tuberculosis but it wasn't that - I've seen it ( it once wiped out our whole tank at work... )

The only thing that ever really changed was their diet because their usual Mosquito Larvae & Blood Worm supply died out over winter & they wouldn't accept flake so I started feeding them live Black Worms which I bought throo my shop - thats the only thing altho they snavelled them up !!

I am going to do some reading on it & also I am going on a holiday tomorrow to Melbourne ( my first time in a plane ) going to check out pet shops & aquaruims etc so I'm going to ask them all questions & see if I can come up with anything...

See ya's all !!!

It has to be TB...
I've seen it in the other Gourami's at the shop once ( they all ended up getting it & we had to euthanaise them ) & they had the same shaped head but also had holes in their bodies which mine didn't have the holes but that is when the Tuberculosis is more advanced apparently...
Well they had it a while before it killed them...
I reckon the new female must have passed it to them as I had them for like a year or 18 months or something & they had only showed signs of wasting away the last month or perhaps a little longer which is about the time I added the Missus...
Well... That sure puts a dampener on things as chances are she's in the early stages of it ( where they eat like a horse & still look healthy... )
I'm going to have to our breeder & tell them as all the young Pearls at the shop have the same look about them - DANGGGGGGGGGGG DANGGGGGGGGGGG DANG !!
I'm peeved - I really wanted to breed them & spent ages growing my males !!!

I hope it's not fish TB. See what I posted in another question next to this one under fish ( http://z2.invisionfree.com/Fishpondinfo/in...?showtopic=2294 ). Most of the time fish have TB, they get huge cheesy tumors but sometimes it can make them anorexic. I suspect there are other bacteria that can give symptoms like that of TB. It is highly contagious so most fish that were in a tank that had it will be carriers. Fish can carry it for years without symptoms. Once they have symptoms, the fish can still live weeks or months with it. My 12-year-old 15" pleco carries TB but has never had symptoms. He must be immune; I wish I knew his secret. Your gouramis died pretty fast (a month after assumed exposure) which is not typical of fish TB normally. It could also be possible that they were carriers until recently meaning they've had it a long time but it wasn't harming them until some other stressor kicked in.

Honestly I couldn't tell you how long they looked anorexic for - it would have been way more than a month... I was going back throo photo's of them & you can notice it in ones I took that are dated around 4 months ago... I think I didn't think much of it because it happened gradually altho I did wonder why...
They didn't have the tumours altho other Gourami that came from their tank at work did get the tumours ( Dwarf Gourami etc... ) The tumours were like holes particularly in the head, kind of like big pimples I guess ( funny the way we describe things sometimes... )
The Pearl Gourami's at work are only about this ------------- big & they definantly all have the same thing mine did even tho these ones are from different batches of fish...
I am so glad that I didn't add more, I almost bought a full grown breeding pair the other week from a different town...
It was horrible - it seemed to just sap the life out of them in the end...
Apparently there is no cure ??
Our breeder told us to euthaniase any that had it to stop spread ??
I'll be away for a few days but I'll try to hop on at some stage...
Toodleoo
Oh & thanks Robyn :P

The "traditional " fish TB manifestation, especially in goldfish, is like a big zit boil that erupts out of the fish. The fish that brought it to my tanks was a goldfish that had the boil thing. I've never seen holes form it though. Since all my fish carry it, I don't believe in killing them all. For a store though, they may find it an option. If the tanks that are assumed to have it are isolated from the others, it might work to stop the spread. If the tanks share water or equipment, it wouldn't be worth it (big loss).

I'll separate the Gourami's that have it as they are all youngens actually I think I'll put them all in sickbay out the back - every fish from the tank, even the ones that don't look like they have it & start over with new ones... I don't really feel like killing a heap of fish... :blink:

Hey this wasting away round the head is something I have seen, i had a female lyre tail molly and she looked as if her head was being suked in. Imagin drinking from a bottle of water and you suck the bottle in when you drink too much that is kind of how I would describe it.
I decided to remove her as when my fish die they get eaten by the others and i did not want them to get what she had, this was some time ago and most of my fish are fine some are loosing weight especially round the tummy but it seems to be the platys only my guppies and mollies seem fine but I did suddenly loose my male molly one night and he seemed fine before if a bit lathargic.
do you think this is the same thing ?

I have seen it with the Mollies at work also altho even tho it looks exactly the same I'm not sure it is the same... With the Mollies I think it is a salt deficiancy ( I've read about it from the breeders ) because by adding salt it seems to stop the problem just not so with Gourami's...
The way you described it - is pretty much exactly how it looks !!!
I've never seen it with Platties, Swords or Guppies...
Usually every week I add a handful or so of Aquarium Salt to the Mollies tank which seem to have a lot less deaths than usual when I don't add the salt...
I think my 2 original Pearls didn't have it, I think they got it from the new one I added considering the ones that came with her at the shop already show signs & my 2 original ones only showed signs recently...
It's kind of stopped me from wanting to breed Pearls seeing as there is nothing you can do about it...